Swift Hawk smiled but held up one finger. “I, too, am anelder to you. And if you ask your father, I think you will find that he does care.”
“But—”
Swift Hawk sent the boy a stern yet kindly look. Josh’s eyes grew wide, but he remained silent.
Meanwhile the young girl, Amy, pushed her hand into Swift Hawk’s and scooted toward him. Innocently, her young eyes smiled up at him, and her voice was high and sweet as she commented, “I like the way you smell. I like Indians.”
Smell?Angelia almost laughed.
But Swift Hawk did not. Instead, he smiled down at the girl, squeezed her hand and petted her head. “You are a fine girl, and you were a good help to Miss Angel tonight. Was she not, Miss Angel?”
“Yes,” said Angelia. “Yes, she was.”
“You see?” Again he grinned at the girl. “Miss Angel and I both saw and appreciate how much you helped with the meal. Someday, you will make someone a fine wife.”
Amy sat up a little straighter and glowed with pride, and only moments later she, with the innocent trust of youth, laid her head down on Swift Hawk’s lap. Within a few minutes she was fast asleep.
He would make a good father.The thought came to Angelia out of nowhere, and as Angelia stared at the young girl who was curled up so naïvely, Angelia knew a sudden desire to have children of her own, children with dark hair and midnight-black eyes.
Angelia’s gaze met and held Swift Hawk’s. They both smiled at each other, and Angelia knew that they shared the same thought. At once, a tender feeling of camaraderie swept through her.
But then… No, this would never do.
Guilt came back to plague her, and her brief happiness disappeared. While she hadn’t exactly decided to end the affairwith Swift Hawk, she hadn’t decided to continue it, either. And to smile at him was almost to flirt with him, wasn’t it?
Taking a deep breath, Angelia turned her eyes from Swift Hawk and tried to summon some self-control.
She opened her mouth to speak, but just then Josh stretched his arms over his head, yawned and lay down over the buffalo robe that Swift Hawk had set out next to him. In a voice barely over a whisper, Josh said, “Sorry, Miss Angel, if I back talked to ya, but I’ll try to do better. I’ll try and listen now.” He yawned again.
As soon as his head touched the ground, however, Josh too was asleep.
Angelia caught Swift Hawk’s eye. Swift Hawk beamed at her, and Angelia glanced away.
With some internal effort, Angelia wiped the smile from her face and turned back to Swift Hawk. “Well, Mr. Hawk, it looks as though you might be my only student tonight.”
He jerked his head gently to the left, a gesture Angelia was coming to recognize as uniquely his. “So it would seem.” He smiled at her anew before glancing down at the two children. When he raised his gaze to hers, his eyes were filled with passion. “Do go on.”
Chapter
Fourteen
…inasmuch as their hospitality and friendly treatment have fully corroborated my fixed belief that the North American Indian in his primitive state is a high-minded, hospitable and honourable being…
—GEORGE CATLIN,LETTERS AND NOTES ON THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
“Yes,” said Angelia nervously, looking at the fire that was burning low between them. Now and again, the wind would catch a spark from the blaze and send it flying toward her. In response, she sat back slightly. “Yes,” she spoke softly. “I will go on with the lesson. After all, it is important. But…”
“But?”
She took a deep breath. “Swift Hawk, I think we need to talk first.”
He acknowledged her with a nod. “Yes, I think so too. There are things about me that you do not know. Important things. But first I will hear your words. I can see that something is troubling you.”
“All right.” Pulling her shoulders back, Angelia drew in a ragged breath. “Did you hear me tell Julian this afternoon that there is a Vigilance Committee on this wagon train?”
“Haa’he.I did.”
“Well, this changes things a little. You see, a Vigilance Committee is a form of law out here, except that no one really knows who they all are. Because of that committee, I thinkthat…well, what I mean to say is that I believe that you and I…that is, that we?—”
